http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/11/07/inside.nba/index.html Why They're Contenders Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming are healthy again. With their two superstars back in action, Houston has perhaps the NBA's best inside-outside combination. Meanwhile, Shane Battier has arrived to provide smart play and hustle. The acquisition of Bonzi Wells gives them another scorer and bullish defender. With three years to learn Jeff Van Gundy's defensive system, the Rockets should be better than ever on that end of the court. Why They're Pretenders Even when healthy, Houston just has not been able to put it all together under Van Gundy. His slow-down defensive-oriented style makes them look like a plodding team many nights. Rafer Alston is shaky at point guard. McGrady struggles with shot selection. Yao often gets in foul trouble. It remains to be seen whether Battier is too undersized to play power forward, and whether Wells will behave (especially if he has to come off the bench). The Final Analysis Like the Nets, the Rockets are good enough to make it to the Finals. The key will be getting Alston to play under control, staying healthy and working Battier and Wells into the mix. But even if it all comes together for Houston, it would still be a long shot to make it out of the West because of the presence of the Spurs, Mavs and Suns. Chance Of Making Finals If T-Mac's balky back holds up, they can't be counted out. ----------- I agree with pretty much everything he has to say. It'll be tough for us, but it's definitely possible.
I agree with pretty much all he says too, although it looks like the Rox might not be so "slow-it-down, grind-it-out" this year. They've got guys who can run fast breaks and appear willing to: Alston, Snyder, Head in particular.
Rockets never had a problem with Spurs before even when the team full of scrubs... we can beat Spurs with ease if meet in final...Duncan just simply can't score on Yao and he can't guard Yao Since Rox is so deep.. and mavs has abusolutely no answer for Yao... plus we got battier to get Dirk... they dont present a problem either... Phoenix is the main threat... cuz their style of game can overcome Yao's numbers... from my observations way to beat Suns is Big guards.. such as Bonzi t-mac and snyder... if they play well rox will win.. Lakers could be a problem too... oddly enough... Kyame Brown is the only person in NBA can guard Yao effectively...and Kobe is just too good X-factor is Utah... they may be the biggest surprise of the season...
I think this is the single most important thing Rockets should do to make us contenders... it's right that Yao and T-mac are the most important players in the team, followed by Battier and Wells, but I think the key to success is Alston.. biggest evidence: he sucked against Utah and NO, we lost both games and we had very few fast breaks, he played well against Dallas, we won by 30 and we had a lot of fastbreaks.. I think Alston is the biggest key, that's why Rockets should consider making a decision right now before it's too late, if he proves to be able plays every game like he did in Dallas, I will be his biggest fan and I would gladly want him as my Starting PG, if he proves inconsistent, we should make a move, I dont know what exactly the move should be.. but we should do something, trade him, keep him as a bench player and get a PG from somewhere, maybe get Bob Sura back as a starter (very unlikely)...
IMO alston is very consistant and stable... he never plays outta control.. the only thing unstable about him is his 3-pointers... he never takes out-of-rythem shot that conflict with the flow of offense... him and battier are the most stable players on this team BTW ROx lost those two games not because Alston sucked.. he didnt suck he did what he suppose to do... T-mac sucked badly... Yao sucked cuz he picked up early stupid fouls... and ref sucked for give Yao those BS fouls.. we lost both games because of that!
Q: Why does every sportswriter assume Alston/ "Skip to my Lou" is out of control? A: They are assuming cause they have not seen him play more than a couple of games in his entire NBA career. Lopez's articles sums it up best about how Alston is not very fancy. If anything he is better when he uses some of his flair and swagger in the NBA. For those of you that still think Alston is not good at getting player's points(especially Yao) and is a borderline starter for our team or any other team, please watch the games more than this guy. Granted he is not the best scoring PG but he is still pretty good as a 5th or 6th best scorer on this team. He has definitely improved his 3pt. and his A/TO will still be one of the best in the league. Our more pressing needs are Tmac and Yao staying on the court for 35+ and getting 20+ shots(I wish). Personally, Alston is the least of my worries and I am not why he is and always will be everyone's scapegoat.
Bingo! Well said. I'm always amazed at the stereotype that still follows him around after all these years he has been in the league. His defense is VERY under-rated as well. He generally does a nice job of staying in front of his man and it's generally the whole team's pick-n-roll defense that makes him look worse than he really is. If the help defender is not making the PG go lateral and/or the rotation is not fast enough to stop open jumpers off the pass, the opposing PG is going to look pretty dang good especially as good as some of the PGs are around the league these days.
On the other hand, you can DEFINITIVELY say that one of the key differentiating factors in the team's games this year has been Alston's play. Two mediocre games = Loss. One better than average game = win. T-Mac has been underwhelming in all of the games. Hayes has been Hayes. Of course Yao also had a monster game against Dallas, but he still played well in the other two also. Battier and Snyder have had varying games, etc. Even more specifically, look at Alston's 3 pointers. He's taking a lot of them so far, which is okay. But excluding Dallas, he is only hitting at a 33% clip, which isn't good enough, imo, if you are shooting at least 6 of them a game. And, excluding Dallas, his a/to ratio is 7/6 - not exactly special. Look, I'm not saying that Alston is bad. But more and more as you look around the league, all the other good teams have PG's who can do what Rafer does. And a lot of other teams have PG's who do that and more, are younger, quicker, etc. (WC teams with at least as good PG's: Utah, Minnesota, Denver, Clippers, Sacramento, Phoenix, New Orleans, Dallas, San Antonio, Seattle, Golden State ----which leaves Portland (and Jack has been playing well so far this year), the Lakers and Memphis) Finally, consider that Rafer so far is playing 3 more mpg than any other Rocket, and YES, I think he is definitely important. Doesn't mean he is out of control or anything, but his play IS important.
Mike James. Fit, fit, Bull****. When the league rules favor offensive players, when your main cogs have health concerns, when you have a team built of role players who can't get their own shot, when you won't pay a possible 950K trade kicker three years from now, when you have a defensive liability that that hides under VG's perimeter double teams to ball penetration.... expect criticism.
Forgot to mention defense. I disagree with you. If anything, I've found Rafer's defense to be underwhelming. Again, it's not terrible. But I've never found him to do all that good of a job staying in front of his man, even without the pick and roll. Moreover, considering how good JVG's defenses overall usually seem to be, I don't think you can really blame it on the defensive scheme. Every team has to defend pick and rolls, too, not just the Rockets, or Rafer.
so i have a question for you gater. Would you expect yao to score about the same with mike james as he does with rafer? It's not because he takes shots away from yao, it's the fact that rafer alston is a better passer than mike james, especially to yao. I can't imagine mike james making half the passes rafer makes to yao when he flashes into the post, simply because he can't. He'd probably pass it off to someone else, or the more likely of scenarios, go iso on his man. He wouldn't really stunt yao's growth, but he certainly wouldn't be helping it, either. And since where building around yao.... It's only been preseason and a couple of games, but it really does seem that alston's improved his three point shot. He fits.
Yeah, and Mike James fit too. You can't argue that. We should have given him the trade kicker without thinking about it. But that's all spilt milk. Gotta move on from it.
Alston has improved his 3 points shot? Better look at what he did against vaunted perimeter defenders Damon Stoudamire and Chucky Atkins tonight...0-3. He's now 9 for 24 on the season. That's 37.5%...a bit shy of James' 50%. James taking shots from Yao? James is light years ahead of Alston in transition. Alston is so bad he makes Steve Francis look like Magic Johnson. More FGA's in transition leads to easier baskets and more FGA's overall. But then again, perhaps you are among those happy with 0 fastbreak points vs NOK and a whopping 6 tonight vs MEM? Mike James not passing to Yao in the blocks is an urban myth with nothing to support it. Apart from all of his scoring last season at TOR, James managed to post 5.8 assists per game...to Alston's 6.7. Based on 48mpg Alston was at 8.4 to James 7.6. Not a heckuva lot considering the scoring difference. Although the season is very young, Alston is currently (before the MEM game) distributing at 7.7 per 48. James is at 6.7. How about we discuss the lack of post passing as soon as Garnett complains? Since you've stated what you can't imagine...I think I ought to be able to record what I can't imagine...Alston running a great break...Alston finishing strong at the rim...Alston staying in front of the offensive player he's assigned to...Alston taking over when McGrady is struggling and Yao is in foul trouble or tired from a back to back (NOK ring a bell?)...Alston breathing fire because he hates to lose...someone (DAL or MINN) offering Rafer Alston a full MLE... And last but not least...Alston besting Mike James head to head. They've met 10 times on different teams over the years. In games where they have each played at least 10+ minutes, James is 9-1. A good "fit" is why with a healthy TMac and Yao you struggle against a severely under-manned team like Memphis. What the Alston supporters are not going to realize until the intensity of the playoffs...really good teams are going to take away your #1 option and hinder #2. Those are the times you need more than role players...you need players that can get their own shots. That is NOT Alston. Not a close to 30 yo Alston.
